7 ms·

I think this is merely an adjustment to how people use social media. Regular people expressing their opinion on public media is only a 10-year old phenomenon.

by d--b 6y ago

I think this is merely an adjustment to how people use social media. Regular people expressing their opinion on public media is only a 10-year old phenomenon. But people have been self-censoring in real life forever. There are things you say at work and things you say at home. There are the subjects you avoid at family gatherings not to spoil the weekend, and you usually don't want all your neighbors to know what you've been up to over your vacations. Social media being new, people didn't realize the consequences and started expressing stuff they wouldn't have otherwise. Yes, people adapt, and share less. Perhaps it's social cooling, but maybe it needs cooling a little bit.

SulfurHexaFluri 6y ago
I think facebook and twitter pushed too hard for people to post everything publicly under their real name. Now we are seeing a shift back to made up usernames and private publishing. I don't know many people who share anything publicly but we all share constantly in private IM groups. For most sites I don't bother remembering a password. I just sign up every time I need to log in which keeps my accounts young enough that there isn't a significant backlog to trawl through and identify me.
- TheSpiceIsLife 6y ago
  > all share constantly in private IM groups. Are you certain these groups are private? E2E and no meta data leak? > isn't a significant backlog to trawl through and identify me. Are you that confident in your OpSec? No browser fingerprinting, GUID, IP address, location data? Surely the alphabet soup agencies profile HN users.
  - theshrike79 6y ago
    It all depends on your threat model, like always. If your threat modelling includes Mossad, FSB and CIA, by all means do take E2E encryption and metadata into consideration every time you communicate with someone in any way. For most of us it's just selecting a group of people who know what is a joke or hyperbole in the current context. I've typed out some weird stuff in Telegram and Discord chats I wouldn't want my family or employer to see out of context. But my threat model doesn't include my employer or my suing Telegram or Discord for my chat logs, so I don't worry about it.
- iso1210 6y ago
  Back in the 90s it was fairly normal to use your real name on usenet - some even included real phone numbers and contact details in their .sigs
mjfl 6y ago
I would argue there hasn't been enough cooling. My mother has been having a vicious political argument with my aunts for the better part of a year. Created familial rifts that probably wouldn't have happened without social media.
- divbzero 6y ago
  Sadly, I suspect this is not an isolated phenomenon. I’ve increasingly encountered anecdotes of political division souring personal relationships. I wonder if there are systematic surveys or studies of whether this perceived trend is real.
  - Dig1t 6y ago
    An interesting corollary of this, I think, is that it creates bubbles of people who all think the same and agree with each other. Since it causes many people to cut people with whom they disagree with out of their life. These people see the people outside their bubble (their neighbors, friends and family) as “other”. It’s so divisive, it’s causing everyone to hate each other as nobody sees common cause with their own countrymen. It’s very sad, I hope we figure it out.
    - concordDance 6y ago
      They also end up with a very different view on reality due to being exposed to different facts and the same facts with different framing. Filter bubbles be strong.
      - lotsofpulp 6y ago
        In the current climate, there is clearly one portion of the population rejecting reality, even though there’s plenty of available information. It has nothing to do with bubbles, it’s people actively deciding to delude themselves.
        Veen 6y ago
mastazi 6y ago
I don't think the problem is just related to social media, that is a pretty narrow way of looking at it. We use online services for everything, from buying stuff to ordering food or hailing a cab. I suggest reading the source cited by OP https://www.socialcooling.com/index.html https://www.socialcooling.com/index.html there are many examples such as > If you return goods to the store often this will be used against you. and > Your health insurer may collect intimate data about your lifestyle, race and more. Anecdotical: if I have a night out, I tend to pay cash rather than card. Even though I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, just having a few drinks with friends. The bar where we usually go has slot machines ("pokies" as they're called here in Australia) who knows if having many transactions at that bar lowers whatever rating somewhere... I'm 40 and if you told 20-year-old me that people would have this kind of issues in 20 years, I would have dismissed it as yet another dystopian prediction that's never going to come true.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  > If you return goods to the store often this will be used against you. What is often? I have a hard time believing retail establishments with razor thin profit margins are rejecting profit unless the customer is likely causing them to lose money. > Even though I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, just having a few drinks with friends. What if the data shows having a few drinks increases the likelihood of healthcare costs? Otherwise, people who don’t have a few drinks are subsidizing people who do have a few drinks. There’s nothing “wrong” with driving more distance than someone else, but auto insurers have to charge more to someone that drives more, since that increases their risk of loss.
  - Nextgrid 6y ago
    > unless the customer is likely causing them to lose money The problem is that this fact is (or will be) determined by some obscure black box algorithm that might even take into account other unrelated data from social media or data brokers. Your activity elsewhere shouldn't affect your ability to return an item, regardless of whether it's profitable for the store or not (of course if it was up to the store they would rather not deal with the bad, terrible monsters that dare to... return items).
phs318u 6y ago
> people have been set-censoring in real life forever Agreed. But what they haven’t done is “over shared” as much as they have in the last decade. So perhaps part of the self-censoring being described is a return to mean? EDIT: it seems I’ve repeated (and agree with) your last point - “perhaps it needs cooling a bit”.
wreath 6y ago
The thing I find problematic is the line of what things to say at home, office and social media is pretty much non-existing (at least in my tech "bubble"). I rarely find anyone agreeing with me that politics should stay out of the workplace for example, or family gatherings etc.
- ck425 6y ago
  Maybe you're in a bubble but regardless I don't think it should be a black and white rule. Whether I discuss politics or similar contentious issues (religion, ethics etc) all depend on the individual relationships. I don't blanket refuse to discuss these things with colleagues, but I do self censor depending on individual relationships. Obviously in work I prioritise my ability to work with the individual and due to that often self censor more, but it's not a blanket rule.
  - wreath 6y ago
    Oh i didnt mean its a black and white deal. I agree with what you are saying. I feel comfortable talking about certain subjects with certain colleagues only that i feel close to, but certainly wouldnt do it in a company wide public forum.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
LdSGSgvupDV 6y ago
In physics, when we connect all environments, it would end up in equilibrium.
A4ET8a8uTh0 6y ago
I think you focus only on the social media impact. The bigger issue is that social cooling is not limited to social media. The larger issue, for me, appears to be that it affects person to person interactions and makes it harder and harder to have an 'adult' conversation with people without adding niceties ( would you kindly consider the possibility of helping me if you are not too busy vs get over here ) or current set of society mandates ( for example, finding 'preferred' pronouns ). “you feel you are being watched, you change your behavior.” Social cooling is bad. It makes things hidden, where they simmer and build up. It is not good for the individual and it tends to not to be good for society in general, because it is channeled and not always in healthy ways. In a sense, I agree with you. It is an adaptation, but I am not convinced it is a good one.
- catawbasam 6y ago
  I think what is needed must run much deeper than self-suppression. It is time for us to look within and cool off within ourselves so that we can speak and act without hate.
  - A4ET8a8uTh0 6y ago
    I am hesitant to respond since I am not absolutely certain what you mean, but I will attempt to dig deeper. How would you define hate? I do not want to put words in your mouth. Just please elaborate a little more.

by d--b 6y ago

SulfurHexaFluri 6y ago

I think facebook and twitter pushed too hard for people to post everything publicly under their real name. Now we are seeing a shift back to made up usernames and private publishing. I don't know many people who share anything publicly but we all share constantly in private IM groups. For most sites I don't bother remembering a password. I just sign up every time I need to log in which keeps my accounts young enough that there isn't a significant backlog to trawl through and identify me.

TheSpiceIsLife 6y ago
> all share constantly in private IM groups. Are you certain these groups are private? E2E and no meta data leak? > isn't a significant backlog to trawl through and identify me. Are you that confident in your OpSec? No browser fingerprinting, GUID, IP address, location data? Surely the alphabet soup agencies profile HN users.
- theshrike79 6y ago
  It all depends on your threat model, like always. If your threat modelling includes Mossad, FSB and CIA, by all means do take E2E encryption and metadata into consideration every time you communicate with someone in any way. For most of us it's just selecting a group of people who know what is a joke or hyperbole in the current context. I've typed out some weird stuff in Telegram and Discord chats I wouldn't want my family or employer to see out of context. But my threat model doesn't include my employer or my suing Telegram or Discord for my chat logs, so I don't worry about it.
iso1210 6y ago
Back in the 90s it was fairly normal to use your real name on usenet - some even included real phone numbers and contact details in their .sigs

mjfl 6y ago

I would argue there hasn't been enough cooling. My mother has been having a vicious political argument with my aunts for the better part of a year. Created familial rifts that probably wouldn't have happened without social media.

divbzero 6y ago
Sadly, I suspect this is not an isolated phenomenon. I’ve increasingly encountered anecdotes of political division souring personal relationships. I wonder if there are systematic surveys or studies of whether this perceived trend is real.
- Dig1t 6y ago
  An interesting corollary of this, I think, is that it creates bubbles of people who all think the same and agree with each other. Since it causes many people to cut people with whom they disagree with out of their life. These people see the people outside their bubble (their neighbors, friends and family) as “other”. It’s so divisive, it’s causing everyone to hate each other as nobody sees common cause with their own countrymen. It’s very sad, I hope we figure it out.
  - concordDance 6y ago
    They also end up with a very different view on reality due to being exposed to different facts and the same facts with different framing. Filter bubbles be strong.
    - lotsofpulp 6y ago
      In the current climate, there is clearly one portion of the population rejecting reality, even though there’s plenty of available information. It has nothing to do with bubbles, it’s people actively deciding to delude themselves.
      - Veen 6y ago

mastazi 6y ago

I don't think the problem is just related to social media, that is a pretty narrow way of looking at it. We use online services for everything, from buying stuff to ordering food or hailing a cab. I suggest reading the source cited by OP https://www.socialcooling.com/index.html https://www.socialcooling.com/index.html there are many examples such as > If you return goods to the store often this will be used against you. and > Your health insurer may collect intimate data about your lifestyle, race and more. Anecdotical: if I have a night out, I tend to pay cash rather than card. Even though I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, just having a few drinks with friends. The bar where we usually go has slot machines ("pokies" as they're called here in Australia) who knows if having many transactions at that bar lowers whatever rating somewhere... I'm 40 and if you told 20-year-old me that people would have this kind of issues in 20 years, I would have dismissed it as yet another dystopian prediction that's never going to come true.

lotsofpulp 6y ago
> If you return goods to the store often this will be used against you. What is often? I have a hard time believing retail establishments with razor thin profit margins are rejecting profit unless the customer is likely causing them to lose money. > Even though I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, just having a few drinks with friends. What if the data shows having a few drinks increases the likelihood of healthcare costs? Otherwise, people who don’t have a few drinks are subsidizing people who do have a few drinks. There’s nothing “wrong” with driving more distance than someone else, but auto insurers have to charge more to someone that drives more, since that increases their risk of loss.
- Nextgrid 6y ago
  > unless the customer is likely causing them to lose money The problem is that this fact is (or will be) determined by some obscure black box algorithm that might even take into account other unrelated data from social media or data brokers. Your activity elsewhere shouldn't affect your ability to return an item, regardless of whether it's profitable for the store or not (of course if it was up to the store they would rather not deal with the bad, terrible monsters that dare to... return items).

phs318u 6y ago

> people have been set-censoring in real life forever Agreed. But what they haven’t done is “over shared” as much as they have in the last decade. So perhaps part of the self-censoring being described is a return to mean? EDIT: it seems I’ve repeated (and agree with) your last point - “perhaps it needs cooling a bit”.

wreath 6y ago

The thing I find problematic is the line of what things to say at home, office and social media is pretty much non-existing (at least in my tech "bubble"). I rarely find anyone agreeing with me that politics should stay out of the workplace for example, or family gatherings etc.

ck425 6y ago
Maybe you're in a bubble but regardless I don't think it should be a black and white rule. Whether I discuss politics or similar contentious issues (religion, ethics etc) all depend on the individual relationships. I don't blanket refuse to discuss these things with colleagues, but I do self censor depending on individual relationships. Obviously in work I prioritise my ability to work with the individual and due to that often self censor more, but it's not a blanket rule.
- wreath 6y ago
  Oh i didnt mean its a black and white deal. I agree with what you are saying. I feel comfortable talking about certain subjects with certain colleagues only that i feel close to, but certainly wouldnt do it in a company wide public forum.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

LdSGSgvupDV 6y ago

In physics, when we connect all environments, it would end up in equilibrium.

A4ET8a8uTh0 6y ago

I think you focus only on the social media impact. The bigger issue is that social cooling is not limited to social media. The larger issue, for me, appears to be that it affects person to person interactions and makes it harder and harder to have an 'adult' conversation with people without adding niceties ( would you kindly consider the possibility of helping me if you are not too busy vs get over here ) or current set of society mandates ( for example, finding 'preferred' pronouns ). “you feel you are being watched, you change your behavior.” Social cooling is bad. It makes things hidden, where they simmer and build up. It is not good for the individual and it tends to not to be good for society in general, because it is channeled and not always in healthy ways. In a sense, I agree with you. It is an adaptation, but I am not convinced it is a good one.

catawbasam 6y ago
I think what is needed must run much deeper than self-suppression. It is time for us to look within and cool off within ourselves so that we can speak and act without hate.
- A4ET8a8uTh0 6y ago
  I am hesitant to respond since I am not absolutely certain what you mean, but I will attempt to dig deeper. How would you define hate? I do not want to put words in your mouth. Just please elaborate a little more.